REGISTER HERE. Monday, March 9, 7:00-8:30 pm ET, Online, Free & Open to the Public

Want to learn more about prison abolition? Excited to discuss ways we can collectively offer resources to address violence caused by mass incarceration? Join us! The Prison Library Support Network, in collaboration with METRO, hosts PLSN Presents: Abolitionist…[Read more]

Please join us for our first Books4Rikers fundraiser! Our goal is to raise money for reading materials for the 7,500 people incarcerated on Rikers Island. We will be crafting, drinking, and hanging out from 6-10 pm 🙂

When: Jan 15 from 6pm to 10pm EST

Where: BOYFRIEND co-op café + bar, 1157 Myrtle Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11206

Books for Rikers…[Read more]

At our recent Books4Rikers presentation, a question came up about where to donate books in NYC for prison libraries. The best known group is Books Beyond Bars. Guidelines for donations are here: https://booksthroughbarsnyc.org/donate-books/

Another group is Saxapahaw Prison Books. Information about their prison book program is here:…[Read more]

Abolitionist Futures | Monday, December 8, 2025, 7-8:30 pm ET

Featured topic: Challenges to Our Movements: Self-Accountability as Building Blocks for Change

Featured speaker: Shannon Perez-Darby, founding member of the Accountable Communities Consortium

Accountability is a human skill, not something that happens to bad people. How many times…[Read more]

Please join the Services for Incarcerated People Roundtable for an informative session about the grassroots group Books4Rikers.

Library workers with Books4Rikers will give a presentation about their project on December 5, 1:00-2:30pm, with time for Q/A.

Topic: Books4Rikers presentation
Time: Dec 5, 2025 01:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Join…[Read more]

Join the Prison Library Support Network (PLSN) and METRO for a conversation with Alison Clemens and Jessica Farrell on their recent publication Archivist Actions, Abolitionist Futures: Reimagining Archival Practice Against Incarceration.

Register here: Eventbrite – Archivist Actions, Abolitionist Futures
This event will take place from 6:30pm-8:00…[Read more]

Virtual Meeting of Librarians and Information Workers for Incarcerated People and People in the Process of Reentry
Friday, October 10, 2025

1 PM Eastern / 12 PM Central / 11 AM Mountain / 10 AM Pacific

Join librarians and information workers as we discuss our work with incarcerated people and people in the process of reentry. This meeting takes…[Read more]

ALA has released two virtual trainings related to the Standards for Library Services for the Incarcerated or Detained.

The training at this link features Eldon Ray James, a retired librarian and researcher, ALA member, and formerly incarcerated person. This training introduces the Standards and describes their content.

The training at this link…[Read more]

Please join Prison Library Support Network (PLSN) on Monday, September 5th for another virtual Abolitionist Futures discussion group. We are thrilled to be discussing the recently published book We Grow the World Together: Parenting Toward Abolition (Haymarket Press). We will be guided through this conversation by the book’s editors Kim Wilson and…[Read more]

The Library Freedom Project is sharing out this resource, which is focused on response protocols to ICE and includes both proactive, and in-the moment responses for academic library workers.

Here is a link to the resource:
https://libraryfreedom.org/wp-<wbr />content/uploads/2025/07/Anti-I<wbr />CE-Resources-Academic-Library-<wbr…[Read more]

A new report released by the American Library Association explores the essential role of prison libraries in lowering recidivism by better preparing incarcerated people for their release and why further investments in prison libraries are essential to reducing the social and economic impacts of incarceration. Investing in Prison Libraries: A…[Read more]

Hello everyone,
Interrupting Criminalization and Women Building Up have partnered to bring you our 2025 anti-criminalization Communiversity taking place from August to November. There are a ton of wonderful offerings facilitated by community members and one full day devoted to youth programming.
The course catalog and course registration are now a…[Read more]

From NYS Library:

“The NYS Library has provided JSTOR with access to rare prison newspapers from our holdings. JSTOR has digitized those newspapers and made them freely available to the public as part of their collection, American Prison Newspapers, 1800s-present: Voices from the Inside.

Supported by a Mellon Foundation grant, this collection…[Read more]

Hello, just wanted to check in with people about this roundtable. I know we are all fighting various battles on many fronts right now.

My time at City Tech is also coming to a close, and I’m not sure of my future with CUNY. Does anyone want to take over this roundtable? Or should we wind it down at the end of this semester? Thank you! Rachel Jones

PLSN is offering a virtual reference training this coming weekend.

WHEN: Saturday, May 10, 2025, 2-4pm ET (11am PT / 12pm MT / 1pm CT)

JOIN HERE: Registration Link

About our Reference Trainings:

Letters are being mailed to us daily, and we need more volunteer help than ever!! After attending a reference training, you will be able to remotely…[Read more]

I’m sharing the event that my colleague Thomas Cleary, Institutional Archivist, is involved with. It’s an in-person event at LaGuardia and looks excellent.
All best, Ian McDermott

Hi All,

As part of the Oral History Seminar (with the final funding coming from the College) we would like to invite everyone to attend a presentation by Andrea…[Read more]

A People’s Assembly (PA) is a facilitated gathering where community members discuss key community issues and collectively problem-solve and decide how to address them. The NYC Public Library Action Network (NYC PLAN) invites New Yorkers to join us on May 17 to discuss library funding and to share our visions for our local libraries. Come spend a…[Read more]

Mariame Kabe just released two new publications. Both are free to download.
Arrested at the Library: interruptingcriminalization.<wbr />com/resources-all/arrested-at-<wbr />the-library
Criminalizing Librarians: interruptingcriminalization.<wbr />com/resources-all/<wbr />criminalizing-librarians

Hello everyone,

Please Join For The People Leftist Library Project (FTP) and Interrupting Criminalization (IC) for a workshop building off of our 2023 Criminalization 101 for Information Workers workshop.

We’ll focus on three main topics: resisting and disrupting ICE in library and information work and workplaces, de-escalation in library spac…[Read more]

The Prison Policy Initiative just released the 2025 edition of its flagship report, Mass Incarceration: The Whole Pie. The report offers the most comprehensive view of the nearly 2 million people incarcerated in the U.S., showing what types of facilities they are in and why. It also serves as a primer on the size and scope of the criminal legal…[Read more]